9th January
A client came to see me today, to
register for help with writing a CV, and was referred by Job Centre Plus. We
will call him Client S. This is getting
to be a recurring story: Client S has been on Incapacity Benefit for nearly 20
years and after failing his ATOS medical and also failing his appeal, he has
now been moved on to Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) and is expected to do 30 hours
a week job searching. Here’s the crunch:
he has severe photosensitive epilepsy, a condition so bad that I had to
interview him in a darkened room.
From an employers’ viewpoint, who
is going to employ this man? He can’t work inside because of his medical
condition, so unless some kindly employer decides to re-fit all the lighting in
their workplace, he isn’t going to get a nice job sitting at a nice desk.
Outside would be even more problematical. Imagine if he had a seizure and hit
his head? Can you imagine the Employers Liability insurance to cover this? Have
the Government never heard of Corporate Manslaughter?? It beggars belief…
We have neither the capacity nor
the facilities to deal with clients with complex medical issues, and yet the
DWP are signposting people like Client S to organisations such as us, to
deliver one-to-one support. How are we supposed to write CV’s for people who
have not worked for 20-odd years, and have a patchy recollection of their employment
history prior to their illness? Do the DWP expect us to be able to assist the
client with their 30 hour Job Search? The ultimate end of these governmental
welfare reforms is passing the buck, passing people from one agency to another
so they can tick the box and discount the client from their figures.
I have started keeping a log of the number of
people that are being referred to us that have previously been on long term
Disability/Incapacity benefits. There
will be a prize for the advisor who has the client that has been out of work
for the longest length of time. Not.
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